Eibar-Amorebieta | Second division matchday 31: Stoichkov strikes down a willful Amorebieta

Stoichkov’s early goal from Cádiz ended up being decisive in the derby played after lunch this Sunday in Ipurua. The Amorebieta went to the gunsmith fiefdom with many emergencies and after a convulsive week. He stood up and battled against the leader of the category, who was not able to do more damage to Urritxe’s men, who were well planted and had clear ideas. The improvement shown by the blues over the last few games was palpable, but ultimately insufficient to add at least one point in a game in which they deserved it. The defeat, the fourth in a row suffered by the Zornotzarras, keeps the Biscayans far from the permanence zone. Nine points of gap with eleven days ahead.

There were many unknowns about what disposition and with what names the ‘renewed’ Haritz Mujika’s Amorebieta would appear in Ipurua to face this complicated derby against the armory team. The coach from Gipuzkoa did not touch up the usual drawing of the team, but he did present many and varied changes in his first eleven. Irazabal made up for the loss of the suspended Luengo, while Markel Lozano took the usual place of Óscar Gil in the rear. In the media line, he gave the helm to Mikel San José, who thus returned to ownership many weeks later. Along with him, Javi Ros and Iker Bilbao. And at the top, Obieta and Sergio Moreno. Guruzeta was left off the list due to a last minute indisposition.

The blues had barely had time to get on the pitch when they came face to face with a goal against. Eibar, in the first action of the match, took the lead thanks to a deep delivery by Aketxe to Stoichkov that neither Markel nor Nolaskoain were able to clear. The man from Cádiz took advantage of the loose ball in the small area to pierce Roberto Santamaría’s goal at 8.6 seconds, thus achieving the fastest goal in the history of LaLiga SmartBank. The sixteenth in the personal account of the gunsmith pichichi.

The zornotzarras accused the blow at the start, something that Eibar was about to take advantage of to put land in the middle. Leschuk, in the sixth minute, forgave the second for the gunsmiths by crossing a header too far when he was totally alone to shoot.

However, Haritz Mujika’s men gradually redirected the situation. He managed to stop the attacks of Garitano’s men to take the match to what was expected, a derby with a lot of play in the central plot without a clear dominator of the ball. As the clock progressed, Amorebieta began to feel more comfortable on the pitch. Especially after half an hour, when they launched their particular offensive on Cantero’s goal.

This time yes, the lateral deliveries and set pieces were valid weapons for Urritxe’s men, who hovered around the goal in several actions. Larrazabal was about to surprise with a direct shot in a lateral free kick that the local goalkeeper got rid of at the near post. Koldo Obieta, after a very good sending from San José in depth, did manage to pierce the Eibar goal, but the referee annulled the goal due to a very tight offside by the Gernika striker. The first act came to an end with a shot from Corpas well repelled by Santamaría in one of the few arrivals that Eibar managed to generate during the first period.

Amorebieta maintained its good tone after passing through changing rooms. In fact, he had command of leather and was playing for many minutes in danger zones. However, he lacked precision in the final meters to achieve an equalizer that he deserved. The one who came closest to achieving it was Mikel San José, who hit a very powerful header in the heart of the area that crashed into the goalkeeper’s chest. The midfielder, in the rebound, could not catch the ball with success either, to the regret of the many blue fans present in Ipurua.

The derby between Eibar and Amorebieta, intense and balanced, had more emotion due to the shortness of the result than due to the chances generated by one and the other contender, which were rather scarce. The clearest, much, were for the gunsmith group. Corpas shook the crossbar of the Biscayan goal in minute 67, and Rahmani, in his first intervention in the game, forgave a very clear one-on-one against Amorebieta’s Navarrese goalkeeper. That allowed Mujika’s team to stay alive, who went on the attack in the final stages to get at least one point. Unzueta caressed him already in the addition, but crashed his shot at the near post into the side of the net.